Dispersal limitation severely impairs the trajectory of restoration, mainly due to the lack of seed vectors bringing seeds from nearby habitats; a role played by many frugivorous vertebrates that can ...be absent or reduced in restored or degraded sites.
Here we propose a new technique named Induced Seed Dispersal, that amplifies the role that many generalist frugivores have in seed dispersal. It consists in the offering of seeds embedded in the pulp of commercial fruits or whole native fleshy fruits in feeders to generalist frugivores, which ingest the seeds and defecate them elsewhere. We set feeders in a restored site and monitored the visiting pattern of these frugivores with cameras‐traps. We also set seed traps to retrieve seeds dispersed by frugivores and offered around 1,500 seeds of Cecropia hololeuca (Urticaceae) per week for 1 year.
We recorded at least 24 generalist frugivore species of terrestrial mammals, bats and birds, which ingested/removed the seeds/fruits from the feeders. Seeds of C. hololeuca dispersed by marmosets were retrieved in the seed traps and germinated. We estimated a potential seed rain of more than 600 C. hololeuca seeds ha−1 mo−1.
Synthesis and applications. Our study demonstrates that this new technique can make use of generalist frugivores to assist restoration or regeneration into sites where seed dispersal is compromised by the lack of dispersers or limited seed arrival. Inducing seed dispersal by generalist frugivores is a low‐cost and easy‐managed technique that can be applied year‐round in restoration and forest enrichments at all scales.
Our study demonstrates that this new technique can make use of generalist frugivores to assist restoration or regeneration into sites where seed dispersal is compromised by the lack of dispersers or limited seed arrival. Inducing seed dispersal by generalist frugivores is a low‐cost and easy‐managed technique that can be applied year‐round in restoration and forest enrichments at all scales.
Summary Background Suicidal behaviours in adolescents are a major public health problem and evidence-based prevention programmes are greatly needed. We aimed to investigate the efficacy of ...school-based preventive interventions of suicidal behaviours. Methods The Saving and Empowering Young Lives in Europe (SEYLE) study is a multicentre, cluster-randomised controlled trial. The SEYLE sample consisted of 11 110 adolescent pupils, median age 15 years (IQR 14–15), recruited from 168 schools in ten European Union countries. We randomly assigned the schools to one of three interventions or a control group. The interventions were: (1) Question, Persuade, and Refer (QPR), a gatekeeper training module targeting teachers and other school personnel, (2) the Youth Aware of Mental Health Programme (YAM) targeting pupils, and (3) screening by professionals (ProfScreen) with referral of at-risk pupils. Each school was randomly assigned by random number generator to participate in one intervention (or control) group only and was unaware of the interventions undertaken in the other three trial groups. The primary outcome measure was the number of suicide attempt(s) made by 3 month and 12 month follow-up. Analysis included all pupils with data available at each timepoint, excluding those who had ever attempted suicide or who had shown severe suicidal ideation during the 2 weeks before baseline. This study is registered with the German Clinical Trials Registry, number DRKS00000214. Findings Between Nov 1, 2009, and Dec 14, 2010, 168 schools (11 110 pupils) were randomly assigned to interventions (40 schools 2692 pupils to QPR, 45 2721 YAM, 43 2764 ProfScreen, and 40 2933 control). No significant differences between intervention groups and the control group were recorded at the 3 month follow-up. At the 12 month follow-up, YAM was associated with a significant reduction of incident suicide attempts (odds ratios OR 0·45, 95% CI 0·24–0·85; p=0·014) and severe suicidal ideation (0·50, 0·27–0·92; p=0·025), compared with the control group. 14 pupils (0·70%) reported incident suicide attempts at the 12 month follow-up in the YAM versus 34 (1·51%) in the control group, and 15 pupils (0·75%) reported incident severe suicidal ideation in the YAM group versus 31 (1·37%) in the control group. No participants completed suicide during the study period. Interpretation YAM was effective in reducing the number of suicide attempts and severe suicidal ideation in school-based adolescents. These findings underline the benefit of this universal suicide preventive intervention in schools. Funding Coordination Theme 1 (Health) of the European Union Seventh Framework Programme.
Global polarization of Ξ and Ω hyperons has been measured for the first time in Au+Au collisions at $\sqrt{s_{NN}}$=200 GeV. The measurements of the $Ξ^{-}$ and $\overline{Ξ}^{+}$ hyperon ...polarization have been performed by two independent methods, via analysis of the angular distribution of the daughter particles in the parity violating weak decay Ξ→Λ+π, as well as by measuring the polarization of the daughter Λ hyperon, polarized via polarization transfer from its parent. The polarization, obtained by combining the results from the two methods and averaged over $Ξ^{-}$ and $\overline{Ξ}^{+}$, is measured to be $\langle{P_{Ξ}}\rangle$=0.47±0.10(stat)±0.23(syst)% for the collision centrality 20%-80%. The $\langle{P_{Ξ}}\rangle$ is found to be slightly larger than the inclusive Λ polarization and in reasonable agreement with a multiphase transport model. The $\langle{P_{Ξ}}\rangle$ is found to follow the centrality dependence of the vorticity predicted in the model, increasing toward more peripheral collisions. Finally, the global polarization of Ω, $\langle{P_{Ω}}\rangle$=1.11±0.87(stat)±1.97(syst)% was obtained by measuring the polarization of daughter Λ in the decay Ω→Λ+K, assuming the polarization transfer factor $C_{ΩΛ}=1$.
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